Dorm monitors at Umass-Amherst vote to become America's first unionized undergraduate group

They are the staff sergeants and big siblings of dorm life. They live in that large room down the hall, telling younger students, "It's the third building on the right" or "Now cut that out!" These resident assistants (RAs) are rarely the biggest stars on campus--but now at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, they have the most muscle. Union muscle, that is. At Umass-Amherst, RAs may be stashing their Strokes CDs and joining in a chorus of Solidarity Forever.

This month the words student union acquired a more militant ring when the RAs voted to affiliate with United Auto Workers...